I love all those movies about the 20s & 30s because of the cars & style of dress. Plus Dad lived in Chicago a couple of years prior to the Great Depression. And we have photos of him dressed like they dressed in those days, non western hat and all.
My favorite moies are (1) A French move about a greedy guy and a well that involves his illigimate son (but he doesn’t know that. “Patton”, Larence of Arabia” & “The Dirty Dozen” are also favorites. Movies last too long for me. I can sit still for up to about 45 minutes before I start getting bored. Never watched “Casablanca”.

Ralph W –That magnificent film about the greedy French guy and his unknown illigitimate son is “Jean de Floerette” and it is half of the story completed by “Manon of the Spring” It is a gripping plot with a superb cast. Thanks for reminding me of it!

Lili, with Leslie Caron, which is my all time favorite. South Pacific. The Best Years of Our Lives. Guys and Dolls. Oklahoma. (I even saw a Broadway production of Oklahoma when I was in college.) The African Queen, which was my husband’s favorite.

Some of my favourite films: The Devil and Daniel Webster, with Walter Huston as “Mr Scratch.” “The Grapes of Wrath”. “The Ox Bow Incident.” Twelve Angry Men.” –”Night of the Hunter,” one of the scariest films ever made.
Two of the most beautiful: “The Red Shoes”, and “Tales of Hoffmann”.
Of course, “Gone with the Wind,” Dr Zhivago, & Lawrence of Arabia; indeed almost anything with Sir Alec Guiness (and I highly recommend his enchanting and literate autobiography. “Blessings in Disguise” )

Then there’s “Whistle Down the Wind” (a little British gem– which in the USA needs subtitles for the broad Lancashire accents). For pure mystery, “Picnic at Hanging Rock;” and so far the most compelling artistic film of the 21st century, “Pan’s Labrynth.”

The worst film I enjoy watching (“so bad it’s good”) –mainly because my mother seriously thought it was great, is Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones in “Duel in the Sun”. My mother really identified with the idea of the ruined girl hunting down her faithless lover and shooting him in cold blood. My Dad’s favourite movie was “Blade Runner”–he identified with the Robot freedom fighter. (Did I mention that they got divorced after 30+ years ? )

I’m ashamed to say I’ve never seen ‘Casablanca’. Also not “Gone with the Wind’. However, I did just watch “west Side Story”. For once, all those are slighty before my time, although I remember my dad watching them.

Not too far off the subject, but if you could magically live a part for a week in one of your favorite movies, what would it be?
Would you be on the African Queen, or Titanic. Would you be on the beach on D-Day or way up there in Apollo 13?
Me, I think I might want to be a handsome riverboat gambler that draws all the pretty ladies, like Maverick.
Just a thought.

I’d like to spend a week as a plantation owner’s daughter in Gone With the Wind BEFORE the war of Northern aggression

—Or else be one of the extras in a gorgeous little forgotten comedy “Valhalla”, about a bunch of CA surfers and bikers recruited as extras for a home-made, lip-synched production of Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” in
The plot summary is here: http://www.answers.com/topic/valhalla-film-1

I’ve read ‘Lonesome Dove’ twice and watched the TV miniseries A BUNCH of times, including yesterday.
Also yesterday, I watched ‘On Golden Pond’, Henry Fonda’s last film which included his daughter’ Jane (not my favorite person since appearing with North Vietnamese soldiers clapping while sitting at an anti-aircraft gun during the war.) However, the movie always bring a lump to my throat and makes the room get very dusty, forcing me to blink a lot.

While working on alignment sheets for the All American pipeline, I saw a female friend of mine reading Lonsome Dove during lunch. Tears were streaming down her face and when I asked whay was wrong, she sobbed “This is the best book I ever read”. Later, I aske what part made her cry and she told me I should get the book and read it. So I did.

I love that movie. It gets better with time, like a fine old wine. While on Boggie films, another favorite is “The African Queen,” which I have watched many times. Another favorite that I watch too often, is “North by Northwest,” Hitchcock’s best IMO.

Bogie was one of those actors that was always himself playing a role, much like Jon Wayne. However, to me, Bogies BEST, VERY BEST was the paranoid Captain Queeg in the Caine Mutiny. He was paranoia, personified, much like his role in “Treasure”. What a great role, far beyond the tough guy he played over and over.

Any movie with Paul Newman, John Wayne, Bogart, Henry Fonda, Edgar G. Robinson, James Cagney. I watched Casablanca last week. The funniest movie ever was Its a mad mad mad mad world. I watched it again last month, probably for the 10th time.

Having once written a play that actually got produced, my favourite Woody Allen film is the underrated comedy “Bullets over Broadway.” It’s got a lot of truth about the mystery of talent and creativity. Any writer’s gotta like it.

Giant is a great movie! I have a print by a Texas artist of Rock Hudson, James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor all in their Cadilacs parked in front of an old movie house in Texas and the marquee on the movie house reads Giant.

My favorite movie is “Shane”, with Alan Ladd.I was an 11 year old boy scout when I first saw it, and I made up my mind to always fight for the underdog. It got me into a lot of fights but after I whooped a bully, I felt real good, even though sometimes I took more than I could chew, and got a whooping. I would do it again.

My late brother in law quit watching movies not long after ‘Shane’, although he watched it everytime it was on TV. Said he had seen the best & after seeing ‘Shane’ he was unsatisified at the other movies. I never saw ‘Shane”.

I like the old cattle drive movie “Red River” with John Wayne. I used to show it to my Texas History classes and then have them read an article about real cattle drives. They would write an essay comparing the two. I saw “To Kill A Mockingbird” on TV the other night on its 50th anniversary with the President introducing it. Gregory Peck won the best actor award for a movie that has great moral lessons and has aged well.

Last of the Mohicans (with Daniel Day Lewis)
Saving Private Ryan
Dances With Wolves
Legends of the Fall
A River Runs Through It
Grumpy Old Men
The Long Hot Summer
Bull Durham
The Shawshank Redemption
McClintock

My list would be a block long….good movies are like good books…put them away for a while and then watch or read them again to reinforce your love for them from the first time.

Favorite Bogart films: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, African Queen, and The Caine Mutiny.
Favorite John Wayne horse operas: The Searchers and The Shootist.
Favorite off-beat movies: Lone Star with Chris Cooper, Kris Kristofferson and Elizabeth Pena; Blood Simple with Frances McDormand in her first starring role, and with Dan Hedaya and an outstanding performance by veteran character actor M. Emmet Walsh as a slimy private eye.
Favorite WWII movies: Patton; Twelve O’Clock High; Command Decision; Battleground; Schindler’s List.
Miscellaneous favorites: Ghandi; Amadeus; Shawshank Redemption; Apocalypse Now (famous line “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”); The Last Picture Show; Silence of the Lambs; Bonnie and Clyde; A Man for All Seasons; Animal House; The Man Who Would Be King; Secondhand Lions.

“The Man Who Would Be King” – Great movie directed by an ailing John Huston. Saeed Jaffrey, Billy Fish in the movie, said, “John Huston got it right when he cast Michael Caine and Sean Connery as English soldiers. If it had happened a few years earlier we would have had Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart portraying English soldiers with some Mexican as their sidekick. The English (twice), the Russians, and then who(?) went into Afghanistan and got their a**e* kicked. When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?

Don’t know how I forgot Old Yeller – saw it when I was 5 yrs old at the North Shepherd Drive In – Mom and Dad made a bag of hamburgers and popcorn and we had a front row seat in our 1952 Chevy…the one I had named “Take Off” I love the memories of those Drive Ins…especially watching the little dancing refreshments on that giant screen. I think there is one Drive In Movie left and I think it is on 2920 near Cypress.

Raven – The Starlite is near Brenham and yes it seems to still be an Antique outlet…for years we would take our daughter to see Grandpa in Austin at least a couple times a year and I always loved coming back toward Houston at sundown so we could see the flourescent lights on the Drive In Wall rising up out of the field in the middle of the night…impressive when I was young We drove by it a couple weeks ago while on one of our Bluebonnet drives up thru Brenham and up near Leon’s home. The lights are not on anymore, lots of change! The Drive In that’s open now is past Tomball and near Cypress. We meet our kids / grandkids there once in Spring and once in Fall – then I’m done with it till it’s 75 degrees, again.

Jim – I love It’s a Wonderful Life so much – I Don’t let Christmas go by w/o watching it, at least once…my husband has finally resigned himself to the annual viewing and in turn I watch lots o’ Sci-Fy with him :-).

I have lost track of how many times I’ve watched “Casablanca”, though I spent the last couple of times ogling Ingrid’s fabulous wardrobe. They just don’t make women’s clothes like that any more……..Most all the other movies I love have been mentioned already. I will add a few:
Sunset Boulevard -1950-William Holden,Gloria Swanson. Killer script written by Billy Wilder.
True Grit – 1969- The Original, starring John Wayne,Kim Darby,Glen Campbell
North by Northwest & Rear Window- my favorites from Alfred Hitchcock.
Manhattan- Woody Allen has said he hated this movie, but I think it is brilliant, my fave of his.

Too many to list but it’s embarrassing how many times I’ve watched Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun” and “The Firm.” Also Redford’s “Jeremiah Johnson.” Love it when Ol Griz tells him “You’ve come far pilgrim” and he replies “Feels like far.” Kinda hits the nail on the head.

Raven, You are correct about that French movie. I watched both the related movies. Hours & hours of watching. I must have liked it because my wife couldn’t believe I sat through even half because it was so long. Of course ‘Patton’ & ‘Lawrence….’ were also long, but not nearly as much as those 2 in one dose. I did recently watch ‘The French Connection’ for the second time.

I like westerns with a twist, “Little Big Man” Is my alltime favorite the soundtrack rocked and the story was really compelling.
“Blazing Saddles” was a comedic twist on the nobility of the western drama,I laughed my butt off , and still crack a smile when I think Of OJ driving across LA with a gun to his head, thinking of the scene where the black sheriff says with his own gun in his own hand up to his own head says”dont come any closer or the n… word gets it”
I watched a slow motion train wreck called “Dances With Wolves”that somehow inspite of it’s underlineing sad comentary about a vanished way of life, I couldn’t turn off inspite of knowing how it sadly ended.I dont think I would call it a favorite. I would watch it again.
I love a good seat clincher,” Alien”qualifies and a few scenes from some other shows had me hanging on to the edge of my seat, the opening to “Saving Private Ryan ” had me about ready to run and duck.
I dislike movies that romanticize criminal lifestyles,but I liked some inspite of the undesirable message they sent to some undeveloped minds,among those that I found well crafted ” The God Father” among those I hated “bonney and clyde”and their similar gendre counter parts that glorified murderous criminals as heroic folk heroes and encouraged narcisitic idiots to seek a similar infamy.
I guess all in all There are a lot of good cinema experiences to be had, a good experience takes me out of my daily drudge and transports me to another world if only for ninety minutes ,it’s a welcome escape.

Leon, Goodness! We sure have a lot of serious porchers. None of those movies named are my faves. They’re great of course, don’t misunderstand, but here are the ones I’ve seen more than once and wish I could see again:
“Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs”, “Fantasia”, “The WiZard of Oz” and “Mary Poppins”. All were well done and fine diversion. Can’t expect more than that from a film, can we?

Don– when I was 4 or 5 my mother took me to see “Fantasia” . The Rite of Spring sequence, my favourite, was my theatrical introduction to tragedy: the contented dinosaurs in their eden of a swamp setting the stage for the fight to the death of the placid stegosaurus attacked by the terrifying T. rex. Then as the green swamp turns into torrid desert, the dinosaurs migrate in a hopeless search for water; turn into tottering fossils and go extinct before one’s eyes. The sequence was beautiful and brutal. It showed me everything about the passage of time and inexorable death; and I withdrew, pensive and tearful under the dining room table comforting a plastic toy stegosaurus for days afterward, telling God that I wanted to see all the nice dinosaurs alive and well in Heaven when I got there.

Don,
Thanks for the reminder!
I took my daughter to see ‘Bambi’ 30 years ago (when she was 3). I remember it was packed and when I found 2 seats, a little boy behind us whispered loudly to his mother, “He’s sitting in the seat where I did pee-pee.” We stayed anyway and watched a great movie then went home where I showered a long time.
I now have a 2 1/2 year old grandson and bought this the DVD for him for Easter. We’re going to watch it together after he finishes the many pounds of candy he got from family members.

I saw ‘The Pink Panther’ 4 times. The first 2 to watch the movie. The second 2 to watch the audience. During my dating years I went to a lot of movies. My wife keeps wanting for me to take her to a movie (I think the last in a theator was ‘Lassie Come Home’) & a New York play. I do not like plays. They rank with piano recitals in my mind, so I guess I should take her to a movie. Anything out there worth going to see?

Danny– if you like “They were Expendible” you will like “Paradise Road”, another true WWII story, this one of women and children interned by the Japanese in Maylasia. One of the survivors of that prison camp, a little Dutch boy at the time, is a Houston Businessman who said that the film was quite faithful to what he recalled.

Casablanca is a favorite that I continue to watch many times, mainly for the interactions of the “minor” characters.
There are probably at least 50 older movies that I really enjoy, but some of my tops (in no particular order) that I re-watch often (repeating several commenters’ picks): You Can’t Take It With You (Barrymore, Stewart, Etc.), She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, Lonesome Dove (I don’t care from TV miniseries. This is a movie!) The Maltese Falcon (mainly for the interactions of Bogart with Greenstreet and Lorre), It’s A Wonderful Life, The Red Shoes, Local Hero (excellent scottish-american ensemble cast dir. by Bill Forsyth), Shall We Dance (The original japanese film [Suo, dir.] with sub-titles. No sex, no violence, no “romantic” conflicts, yet a very emotionally moving film), 8 1/2 (in italian with subtitles), A Man For All Seasons, Annie Hall, People Will Talk ( often pretentious and preachy story-line thankfully overwhelmed by the acting of Cary Grant, Hume Cronyn, Walter Slesak, Sidney Blackmer, Finlay Currie, etc.), All About Eve, Marty, The Catered Affair, A Night at The Opera, Duck Soup, The Pink Panther and plenty more!

I happen to like comedy westerns and two of my favorite are “Support Your Local Sheriff” with James Garner and “Cheyenne Social Club” with James Stewart and Henry Fonda. What a pair they make. I can watch any John Wayne movie repeatedly. Also like Bogart’s “African Queen.”

GREASE and FORREST GUMP. Went to see the primiere of Grease at midnight and had a great time and I always think of that night; Gump we went to see its first night in a crowded theater and it was a swell time too.

Eli – can you tell me what cross street was near the State Theatre .. I grew up in West End on Washington Ave. and always went to the Yale with my brother….cannot remember where the State was, though. Anywhere near the old Weingarten Store on Shepherd and Washington?

The old State Theater was right next to Cohn street which went south for a block or two and sorta petered out onto Westcott. Knox Street was the next street east on Washington and Maysons Autoparts was on that corner. I don’t recall what separated the two but a dim memory of a glass fronted entry to a building wants to creep forward. The first TV I saw up close was across the street from the State, in a small appliance shop window. They had a speaker rigged on the overhead eaves with the TV on, inside the shop. The picture was grainey and blurry but I was astonished!!

Debbie, I just went to Google earth and saw that my memory is still pretty good. The old State Theater was across the street from where Candalarias pizza is today. The site of the present Candalarias was a dentists office and if you go to google earth do a search for Candalarias, Houston Texas. that’ll take you where Washington intersects Westcott. Just east of that intersection, you’ll find Cohn St. offset on either side of Washington Ave.
Now, on the bottom you’ll se “1944″, that’ll take the map back to that year but youl’ll want 2003, the church that took over the bldg that housed the movie house can be clealy seen using the “street view” icon…a true blast from the past.

Eli – thanks for the info – now I understand why I could never place the State Theatre when you’d mention it – because I always new it as the Church that took it over. Our landlady at the time ( on Asbury St about 4 blocks E. of there) attended that Church. I believe the Pastor’s name at the time was Westmoreland.
My brother went to school with the boys whose Dad owned that TV repair shop across the street. So many memories from there…across from the Church was an old used book store – the owner would pay my brother and I to keep books shelved and dusted…big bucks, LOL. And I believe on that same corner there was the Bama Jelly Co…smelled so good when we passed by on the way to school. One more memory and I will hush – do you remember the little wooden store on the corner of Birdsall and Washington named Busselle’s? They were such a cute elderly couple..he wore suspenders and she had a ‘bowl’ haircut. We worked for them as well, dusting can goods and stocking shelves, etc. Simple days- we were 8 and 12 and we worked all the time – no problem with ‘child labor laws’ We learned early – if you want to spend – you’d better want to work, Amen!

Anyone else remember the Almeda Theater on Almeda Blvd. near Hermann Park Golf Course? Saw many a Saturday serial and Disney movies there in the late 50s. Became a dance studio and eventually was demolished
Also the Alray Theater, the “avant garde” movie house of the 1960s, where I first saw Fellini’s 8 1/2. It eventually became a “porn palace” before biting the dust. I think it was located in the near north side of Houston, but I can’t find any references.

Every time Wyatt Earp (Kevin Costner) or Tombstone (Kurt Russell) comes on my hubby has to watch them. A River Runs Through It. Legends of the Fall. I love Die Hard, Kelly’s Heroes. Lonesome Dove. Lethal Weapon.

PH Larry – that’s a great line. one of our favorites. I really like Dennis Quaid’s Doc Holliday in Wyatt Earp. It’s hard for me to decide wich one is better. Open Range. Dances with Wolves. Kevin Costner makes a good western and a good cowboy.

If you ever get back to Chattanooga try staying at the Chnattanooga Choo Choo Motel. It is the old train station and has lots of interesting items including some old cars as rooms. Our Bomb Squadron held a recent reunion there and had high praises for the whole set up.
Always enjoy your column. The last one brought back some great memories of old swimming holes and other youthful shenanigans.

Groveton: Thanks for mentioning “We’re No Angels” (Bogart, Peter Ustinov, Aldo Ray, Leo G. Carroll). I had totally forgotten about it. One of the funniest movies I ever saw. Peter Ustinov stole the show in that one. A later movie with same title starred DiNiro and Sean Penn, bore little resemblance to the first one and thoroughly sucked. Almost as funny as We’re No Angels was “The Inlaws” with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk. A later remake with Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks was fair, but not nearly as funny as the original.

Most of my John Wayne faves were mentioned, but anything with him. Anything with Jimmy Stewart. So together, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, is high on the list. I didn’t see anybody cover Angel and the Badman, The Quiet Man, The Sons of Katie Elder, Rio Bravo, North to Alaska, or Rooster Cogburn.

Mostly mentioned both my more recent favorites too, except: Mulan, Up, Labyrinth (w/David Bowie), The Passion of the Christ (but I could never watch it again), Space Cowboys, U.S. Marshals, Blast from the Past, A Beautiful Mind, It’s a Beautiful Life, and I’m missing a few.

My all-time favorite, bar none: The General, silent movie with Buster Keaton. Comes on at least once a year on TCM, it seems. If you haven’t seen this, and need a happy ending, or just like Civil War themes, physical comedy, or old trains, this is the flick for you. You could even watch it late night without having to turn up the sound when everybody else is asleep, ha. It is cleverly hilarious.

The General….I loved the ad libbing in that movie. My favorite was when the pretty girl, I can’t recall her name, is helping Buster load fire wood on the train. The girl picks up a log and hands it to Buster on the hopper car and Buster stacks it away, this occurs a couple of more time and you can see no more logs but the girl, continuing the scene, picks up a wood chip and hands it to Buster and turns to get more…Buster looks puzzeled at the chip, looks at the girl who is looking for more wood or chips or something to hand Buster as the scene continuse and he throws the chip at the girl….all with that dead pan look on Busters face.

BUT, I don’t think I saw Blues Brothers mentioned. Belushi at his best.

Another oldie I really liked was the one about a British Regiment in Africa besieged by hordes of Mau Maus. I forget the name. After watching it two or three time, one would think I would know the name!! LOL

I haven’t been to a real movie theater since Saving Private Ryan came out 10 or so years ago. They have run out of material to make movies out of!!

Well, against my better judgment, I let the friends and wifey talk me into going to see the Three Stooges movie after it was given good reviews by the Amarillo paper. My advice in four words… “DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY”. If adolescent (or below) level humor is your forte, you might find it mildly entertaining.

Thanks for the heads up PH! Your description of who would enjoy that movie fits me to a T!
As to the “Queen”, I wonder if they’ll let you pay extra to sit on the gunnels and kick the hell out of the boiler?

OK! Enuf is enuf…anyone care to recall the two greats that brought silent film ability to the talkies? Stan Laurel could say so much with his befuddled or puzzeled gaze at the camera and Ollie Hardy would give the camera such a frusterated or angry look that no words were required. I still enjoy their old movies when I see them on the TV.